The invention concerns a headlight for motor vehicles, with a cover plate that covers up the reflector, with an incandescent lamp that fits into an opening in the vertex of the reflector, and with an essentially U-shaped enclosure made out of sheet metal and positioned in the vicinity of the lamp, the flanks of the enclosure being connected by a web between the bulb and the cover plate with one of them, which extends, once the headlight has been assembled, above and below but not in contact with the lamp, at least to some extent constituting a screen that screens off sections of the reflector that generate diffused light, whereby the flank below the lamp functions essentially as a supporting arm for the enclosure and whereby the free terminal section of the flank above the lamp screens off the socket and/or the base of the lamp and/or the areas of the reflector adjacent to the vertical opening from the light emitted by the lamp.
FIG. 1 illustrates an enclosure of this type for headlights. The essentially U-shaped enclosure is made out of a cup-shaped sheet of metal. The web that constitutes the base of the U has a perforation punched out of it, and the two flanks of the U, which function as opposing supporting arms, are punched out of the walls that constitute the surface. The sections of the flanks in the vicinity of the web are wide enough to function as screens. The free terminal section of the flank above the lamp has another screen that screens off not only the areas of the reflector adjacent to the vertical opening from the diffused light that occurs at the bottom of the lamp but also the upper edge of the socket from the rays directly emitted from the filament. The flank above the lamp can also function as a supporting arm because its terminal end has, in addition to the screen, two punched-out tongues that fit into slots in the base of the lamp. The heat conducted through the flank that functions as a supporting arm can heat not only the base but also the socket up to or even beyond a critical temperature range, especially if they are made out of a material that does not resist heat. To allow the heat in the flank of an enclosure of this type, with the free terminal section of the flank above its lamp having a screen in the vicinity of the socket, to be diverted through the supporting arm into a section of the reflector that is far enough away from the socket and base, a supporting arm made out of another strip of sheet metal must be secured with one end resting against the area above the filament and the other against the reflector. Securing an additional supporting arm to the flank on an industrial scale, however, is too difficult and, because of excessive investment costs, too expensive.